


Blondie and the Grump

by shlaura



Series: Stanford AU [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, human!Cas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-12
Updated: 2013-04-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 02:10:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/717650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shlaura/pseuds/shlaura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas moves in next door to Jess and they become best friends. Eventually the two of them go of to Stanford together and meet Sam and Dean Winchester, and fall in love. This is the story of four people becoming one family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Part One:

“Jess, it’s dinnertime. Go wash your hands.”  
She shuffled her small, socked feet as slowly as she could to the bathroom where she lingered with her hands under the water until tiny wrinkles started to form at the tips of her fingers. She could still hear her parents’ voices.  
“They’re a little young to have a kid that age,” she hears her mother say. Her father only grunts.  
“I mean, that girl can’t be more than 22! And that little boy looks about six, same as Jess. She would’ve had to have had him at…” the tall blonde, still clad in a neat business suit does the mental math. “God, she’d have been sixteen when she got pregnant!” The indignation is clear in her tone.  
“Mind your business Liza. You haven’t even met them yet; don’t go judging a situation you know nothing about,” the father’s voice says in a detached sort of way. Jess knows he’s flipping through the TV guide to see if there’s a game on tonight.  
Jess shuts off the water then and makes her way to the kitchen table. On her placemat is already a plastic plate with a slice of last night’s leftover pizza. Jess sighs and decides that this summer she’s going to make friends with the boy next door. It sounds like the kind of thing her mother wouldn’t approve of, and Jess has been making a habit lately of doing all sorts of things her mother doesn’t like. 

~

Jessica Lee Moore is six years old going on thirty. She lives in Palo Alto, California and is the only child of Liza and Peter Moore, both of which still think her favorite color is pink, though her favorite color has been green for as long as she can remember. And she doesn’t need a reason to knock on the new neighbors’ door at nine o’clock in the morning.  
A red-headed young woman answers the door with a distracted look on her face.  
“Castiel please,” she pleads. “You have to eat something. Whatever you want, Michael will make it, but you have to eat!”  
The red-headed woman turns to the open door and takes a startled step backwards.  
“Oh! Hey there sweetie, can I help you with something?”  
“Hi! I’m Jessica. I live next door. I heard my parents talking about your son and that he was about my age and I figured he’d probably need a friend. This neighborhood is really boring and I’m really nice and my friends all think I’m fun. So can I meet him?”  
Anna almost laughs out loud, but she bites her cheek instead. She doesn’t want to upset a potential friend of Cas’s. God knows the kid needs someone his own age to play with.  
The woman smiles brilliantly and in the back of her head Jess hopes she’ll grow up to be more like this woman than like her mom.  
“Well Jessica that is incredibly sweet of you. I’m Anna. I’m sure Castiel will be very excited to meet you! Why don’t you come in and I’ll introduce you?”  
Jess smiles toothily and steps over the threshold. “You can call me Jess. Nobody calls me Jessica…unless I’m in trouble,” she furrows her eyebrows for a second but then turns to look around the house. It’s still mostly stuff in boxes and furniture wrapped in protective plastic, so she moves on quickly to the kitchen, where she can see a little boy in spider man pajamas sitting with a bowl of soggy cereal in front of him. It’s obvious he isn’t interested in eating it. Anna follows behind her.  
“Castiel, this is Jess. She lives next door and she wants to be your friend! Isn’t that nice?”  
The little boy doesn’t even look at either of them. Anna shuffles her feet awkwardly. “I’m gonna go tell Michael I’m leaving for work. Please Castiel, try today? For me?” And then she’s gone up the stairs, presumably to find this Michael person she keeps mentioning.  
Jess takes the seat next to Castiel and stares at him for a few seconds. He has messy brown hair that Jess doubts ever sits flat on his head and blue eyes that rival her own. But he was looking off into space, as if she wasn’t there.  
“I like Spiderman too,” she says after a minute.  
He starts, like he actually forgot she was there, and frowns. “Who?”  
“Spiderman? He’s on your shirt.”  
“Oh. I don’t really know what that is. Michael bought these for me ‘cause I didn’t have anything else.”  
“Why not?”  
“Fire.”  
“Oh.”  
They sit there silently for several more minutes.  
“Is Michael your dad?”  
“No.”  
“Brother?”  
“N-…well I guess when he marries Anna he will be. I think.”  
“Anna isn’t your mom?”  
“No. She’s my sister.”  
“How can she be your sister? She’s a grown up.”  
“We had the same dad, but different moms.”  
“Where is he?”  
Castiel shrugs. He only has vague memories of a tan man with a beard and a windbreaker.  
“And your mom?”  
Castiel gasps and drops his gaze, which had finally landed on Jess for a few moments, to the floor. “Fire,” he mumbles.  
“Oh.” Jess sits, thinking hard for several minutes. Then she says, “When I cried at Grammy’s funeral, my Auntie Tina told me that she was safe and happy and that she’d want me to be happy too. Probably it’s the same for you mom.”  
Castiel nods and opens his mouth, but at that moment a very tall man with very large arms enters the kitchen and smiles at Jess. She notices an intricate sword tattoo on his upper arm.  
“Hey Jess, I think your poor babysitter is at our door freaking out cause you’re missing. I told her I’d send you out.”  
“Oh that’s just my cousin Sarah. Mom says she’s a drama queen. Anyway,” she hops off the chair and puts a hand on Castiel’s shoulder. “It was nice to meet you Castiel. I’ll come by sometime and we can play outside or something.” Then she heads towards the door.  
“You can call me Cas,” Castiel calls after her. When she turns to look at him, one corner of his mouth is hitched up in an almost half smile. “It’s what my mom used to call me,” he shrugs.  
Jess smiles radiantly at him and waves and she sprints out of the house.  
~

Castiel Novak has never met anyone his own age who he can understand, much less relate to. He’s five years old, he reads at a middle school level, and has a basic understanding of algebra. When he started school his mother consented to allow him to skip kindergarten but was firm about him going through the school system at a regular pace. He was her pride and joy, her special miracle baby, but she also knew how hard the world can be for anybody who strayed from the norm. She wanted him to feel as normal as possible.  
Castiel hadn’t felt normal a day in his life. Until the day he’d met Jess.  
“Cas it’s so sunny! Can’t we go ride bikes or something? Pleeeeaaaaassseee?”  
Cas groans. “Jess there’s a show on Japanese Samurais starting in ten minutes! Who doesn’t want to watch that?”  
“Me,” she pouts.  
“C’mon Jess,” he nudges her with his shoulder as they settle into the couch. “If you watch this with me, I promise to ask Anna if we can go to the zoo this weekend?”  
“But you hate the zoo,” her eyes go wide.  
“I know, but you like it,” he shrugs. She throws her arms around his neck and kisses him on the cheek. His face turns the color of a cherry tomato.  
“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had Cas,” she says as she pulls away.  
“We just met three weeks ago Jess. How can you know that?” One corner of his mouth goes up in his signature not-a-smile. Jess spends hours at a time trying to think of ways to make him smile for real.  
“And?” she challenges him. “I think we’re gonna be friends forever,” she says, as if hers is the final word on the matter.  
~

“Look at his hair,” one of the boys calls loudly. “Hey Castiel, ain’t you ever heard of a comb?” The group of them laughs and Cas continues to walk by, hugging his books to his chest tighter. One of them extends a foot that sends Cas sprawling across the floor, his books scattering in several directions on the asphalt of the playground.  
He huffs and gets to his knees, gathering the books. Suddenly there is a hand on his back and a voice in his ear.  
“You okay Cas?” Jess asks. He nods.  
“Oooh look who it is! Cassie’s little girlfriend come to save the day.”  
“First of all, Tony, I’m not Castiel’s girlfriend. Second of all, you better get out of here before I go call Mrs. Hampton.”  
“What’s the school nurse gonna do to me?”  
“Well,” she says, taking a few steps towards the bully. “You’re gonna need a nurse if you don’t leave Castiel alone.” She aims a swift kick directly at the kid’s knee cap before turning on her heels, helping Cas up, and walking away with him.  
“You didn’t have to Jess. You’re gonna get in trouble for that.”  
“Of course I had to, you’re my best friend. Besides, Tony Paulson has had it coming all year. Plus, what are they gonna do to me, Cas? It’s the last week of fifth grade. We’re gonna be middle schoolers soon!”  
Cas huffs out a little laugh. “I doubt that’ll be any better than this. But at least we’ll still be together.”  
~

Jess swallows her tears long enough to hear his voice coming from downstairs.  
“Hey Mrs. Moore. Can I go upstairs?”  
“Sure sweetie. She’s in her room. Door open!”  
“Yes ma’am,” he calls, already mounting the stairs.  
She waits for the knock on her bedroom door to come.  
“Come in,” she says meekly.  
Cas comes in looking equal parts apprehensive and guilty. “Jess. Please don’t be mad. I just…he’s not a good guy and I didn’t trust him. I had to do something. You’re my best friend.”  
She gives him a watery smile. “I know Cas. He was a jerk. He tried to put his hand up my shirt after I said no. I just thought it was cool…you know, for a tenth grader to be interested in me, a lowly eighth grader.”  
“There’s nothing lowly about you Jessica Lee Moore.”  
“Shut up Cas,” she smiles again.  
“His nose was too big for his face anyway,” Cas deadpans.  
“Yeah, and that was before you punched him in it.” Jess giggles and Cas joins her and they spend the rest of the night eating king sized Hershey’s bars and watching When Harry Met Sally. 

~

They were hanging out in Cas’s bedroom. Jess was sprawled on the bed with her chemistry notes and textbook open in front of her. Cas was sitting at the desk, writing a paper on whether or not Reagan’s trickle-down theory hurt more than it helped.  
“Hey Jess,” Cas says, suddenly spinning in his chair.  
“Yeah Cas?” she doesn’t look up from her notes.  
“I’m gay.”  
Jess snaps her head up from her work and examines his face for a few seconds.  
“Yeah?”  
“Yeah,” Cas breathes out.  
Then she smiles that same smile she’d given him on the first day they’d met and turns back to her work.  
“That’s cool Cas.”  
Cas thought she wasn’t looking anymore so he smiles wide and genuinely before turning back to his paper. “Yeah. Yeah it is.”  
~

“Cas…Stanford isn’t even Ivy. You could go anywhere in the country. You don’t have to stay here because Stanford’s always been my dream. We’d be okay. I’d be okay, if you wanted to go to Princeton. Anna told me you got the acceptance letter ages ago.”  
“Yeah well Anna should mind her own business. And what the hell would I do on the east coast? I can’t leave California, Jess. Not yet. Someday, probably, but not yet. Anna and Michael would go out of their minds with the twins without me around. So shut up and let’s open these letters at the same time.”  
Jess rolls her eyes at him and they both hold them up, tearing them open at the same time. Cas pulls his out and beams, turning to her.  
“Accepted. You?”  
Jess turns to him with tears in her eyes. “I got in too.”  
Suddenly she’s jumping up and down on the bed screaming and he is jumping with her.  
“We’re going to Stanford!” he shouts, hugging her. 

~

“This is stupid Jess,” he says, putting down her last box on her desk. “I’m gay. It makes more sense for me to room with a girl than a guy. I don’t want to live with some random guy from God knows where. I want to live with you.”  
“Cas it doesn’t work that way. Besides, imagine you and me living together in this small space? We’d kill each other. Remember that summer we bunked together at camp? That was a disaster!”  
A girl with dark wavy hair and a round face walks in then, glances at both of them, and puts her stuff on the other bed without a word. Jess makes a face at Cas, who stifles a laugh.  
“Hey, you must be Megan. I’m Jess, this is my friend Cas.”  
“Yeah, call me Meg. Your friend is cute,” she winks at Cas. His face goes bright red and he opens and closes his mouth several times before Jessica comes to the rescue.  
“Yeah he is. It’s really too bad he plays for the other team.”  
Meg lets out an exasperated sigh. “All the cute ones do these days. See you later,” and then she’s gone.  
Jess bursts out in giggles. “I think I like her.”  
“Oh God, Jess,” he puts his hands over his face. “I can’t interact with people. This was a bad idea. I think I’ll just go back home and take classes online and never leave again.”  
“Relax. You’ll be fine, okay? This semester we have all the same classes so I’ll be with you all the time. You’ll get used to it. You’re gonna make plenty of friends; you’re great!”  
“In case you haven’t noticed Jess, you’ve been my only friend for thirteen years. People don’t like me, and I don’t like people.”  
“That’s because you always look crabby and superior. Try changing your face.”  
Cas grabs the nearest hard object and flings it at her. It misses miserably.  
“You throw like a girl,” she laughs. “C’mon, I’m done here. Let’s go do your room.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Sam and Dean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I want you all to be forewarned, there is talk of date-rape drugs and attempted rape. I know those are triggers. There is nothing too graphic and everyone turns out okay. As well as a brief discussion of PTSD (very, very brief.) 
> 
> I'm thinking of posting another Dean/Cas verse I have on a tumblr blog called prettylittledestiels.tumblr.com. 
> 
> And thanks to the people who are reading this....I'm.....speechless by the number of hits. Feel free to talk to me too, by all means! Leave comments, reviews, opinions. I'm new at the fanfiction game so...
> 
> And now, here's part two!

Part Two:

Jessica has always been a people magnet. People radiate towards her and then revolve around her. Anywhere she goes. Moreover, she has always had a way of keeping the best of them in her life. She can spot a good heart and a pure soul from a mile away.  
Sam Winchester caught her off guard though. If people’s goodness shone out of them like a light, Sam would’ve blinded her the minute they’d brushed shoulders outside the dormitory.  
Jess was late for Intro to Anthropology and Cas was angry texting. He hated to be left alone in a room full of people he didn’t know. She’d been trying to use one hand to respond to him when she ran into what was surely a tree. Except it wasn’t.  
“Oh, I’m sorry!” she says, looking up. Wow.  
“Not a problem. It’s my fault anyway. I definitely should’ve noticed you walking towards me.” He smiles at her and she almost drops her phone to the pavement. He’s all floppy hair and dorky dimples. And he’s taller than anyone she’s ever met. Christ, those are big hands.  
She shakes her head and mumbles another apology before rushing away.  
When she finally takes her seat next to Cas in the lecture hall, ten minutes late, he gives her the stink eye.  
“Where have you been!? Someone almost talked to me,” he grumbles.  
“Sorry, I ran into a real life Adonis on my way here and then I forgot the room number.”  
Cas snorts. “He’s not a football player is he?”  
“Shut up,” she smacks his arm. He didn’t look like a football player. But with that height, he definitely could be.  
“What’s his name?”  
She starts. Why would she know his name?  
“I don’t know, Cas. I literally walked into him like a bumbling idiot.”  
He raises his eyebrows at her. “Jessica Moore met a cute guy and she didn’t even ask his name? How out of character.”  
And he’s right. Jess makes a habit of going after the things she wants.  
“It’s not like I was expecting it. I was flustered and late and you were angry texting.”  
“Huh,” Cas says, and drops the subject. Jess doesn’t hear a word of the anthropology lecture, let alone any other lecture that day. 

~

It takes a week of keeping her eyes peeled before she sees him again. And again he catches her completely off guard. It’s after her and Cas’s last class of the week and it’s been a rough few days so they decide to treat themselves to lattes and scones at the local coffee shop. She’s still digging around in her bag for her wallet when she gets up to the register.  
“Double Vanilla Latte and one of those strawberry scones please,” she says as she triumphantly pulls her wallet from the bottom of her bag. Then she looks up and almost drops it on the floor.  
“Hey!” dimples flash at her. “It’s the hit and run girl. You bumped into me the other day and then ran away before I could ask you your name!”  
She splutters and darts her eyes at his name tag. Sam. That’s a good name. Solid, dependable, straightforward.  
She doesn’t know how long she stands there staring at the little square pinned to Sam’s light blue polo, but it’s long enough that Cas, the socially inept wonder, comes to her rescue.  
“Her name’s Jess. I’m Cas. Just a friend. And we’ll be at that table over there if you want to come talk to her later. I promise she knows how to talk.” Then Cas orders his coffee and scone, pays for both of their orders, and drags Jess to the table he’d indicated to Sam.  
“Jess what the hell was that!”  
“I couldn’t remember how to form words Cas!”  
“You were speechless. I’ve been waiting my whole life for you to be speechless. This is a really big moment for you,” he mocks.  
“Shut up, ass face. I just made a complete fool of myself. Oh god, oh god, oh god. He’s not gonna want to talk to me, he thinks I’m an idiot.”  
“Well you’re wrong about that, cause he’s coming over here right now.”  
She widens her eyes and Sam pulls up a chair at their table.  
“Hey Cas,” he smiles and then turns to Jess.  
“So, Jess,” he starts.  
“Sorry about earlier, I just…”  
“It’s okay. I’m used to it. These dimples often dazzle people into shocked silence,” he says, somehow still managing to make the statement self-deprecating.  
Jess laughs. “Right. I bet they do.”  
“You have a great smile.”  
Jess blushes furiously and Cas snorts. She glares at him for a second before turning back to Sam.  
“So, I hope this isn’t too forward. Unless you like that, then I hope it’s forward enough. But do you want to maybe go to dinner with me tonight?”  
“I’d love to, Sam.”  
“Great!” he says enthusiastically. “I’ll pick you up at seven?”  
“Yeah, I’ll meet you outside my dorm building. I’m in Stern.”  
“See you tonight,” he winks at her. Then he turns to Cas and stands.  
“Nice to meet you, man,” Cas nods and takes the and Sam offers. 

~

That first date goes incredibly well. As does the second, third, fourth, and fifth. On the fifth date they bumped into some of Sam’s friends and he’d introduced her as his girlfriend. She didn’t object, so that’s how they became official.  
A month later Sam asks her to meet his brother.  
“What if he hates me?” she asks Sam, sitting in the passenger’s seat of his ten year old Toyota. She’s fidgeting with the hem of the dress she insisted on wearing even though Sam told her Dean wouldn’t notice if she wore a paper sack. Plus, she looked great in everything. That had earned him a kiss that now had them running about twenty minutes late.  
Sam laughs at her. “No one could ever hate you, Jess. Dean’s been teasing me for weeks; keeps asking when he’s gonna meet the poor girl who doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into with me.”  
Jess smiles nervously. From what she’s heard, Dean sounds like a tool. What if it’s her that can’t stand him?  
Sam, as it turns out, learned all his charm from his big brother. They’re a lot alike, Jess realizes. Dean’s charming and funny, like Sam. But, where Sam is also sweet and full of adoration, Dean has a bit of a cocky asshole streak in him. If Jess wasn’t such a good people reader, she’d take it for what Dean wants it to be. Arrogance. But Jess is smarter than that, and she catches on quick. Dean basically raised Sam after their mother died and their father went off the deep end. Jess doesn’t need Sam to tell her that Dean’s still just a scared little boy at heart.  
So Jess takes a liking to Dean, and Dean takes a liking to Jess, and Sam is thrilled. 

~

“I really think you’d like him Cas. He’s ruggedly handsome; just your type.”  
“You don’t even know if he’s gay. I am not going to go on a humiliating date with someone who’ll probably punch me when he finds out I’m attracted to guys.”  
“C’mon Cas, Dean’s not like that. Besides, I’m pretty sure about this. But I’ll ask Sam if you want me to.”  
“No Jess. Drop it. I don’t need you to set me up with your boyfriend’s brother. Find some other way to get him out of your hair, I’m not a scape goat.”  
Cas slams the door on his way out and Jess frowns. He’s been on edge lately. Things have been going great with Sam, so maybe she’s been neglecting her best friend a little bit. She wishes he weren’t so bad at making friends. That’s why she’s trying to set him up with Dean, though! She wants him to meet new people, dammit.  
In his room, Cas pulls his knees up to his chest. He feels bad for yelling at Jess. He really is happy for her. Sam is a really great guy and he’s good to her and she deserves that. He just wishes that it didn’t mean him being left alone. He’s just not a people person, people don’t understand him. They don’t like him.  
But Jess trying to set him up with Sam’s brother? That just makes him feel even more pathetic. And he’d rather be alone for the rest of his life than feel pathetic. 

 

~

Damn it! Jess dragged him to this fucking party and now where is she? Gone! And he’s alone in a room full of strangers. She knows he hates parties; he wanted to stay in his room reading Tolstoy, but no. Jess wanted to go out, to some idiotic party on the other side of the city. And now he can’t find her.  
Cas pushes his way through the crowd. He steps on someone’s shoe, someone else calls him an asshole. Shit. She literally isn’t here. Cas starts to panic. There is no way she left with anyone. Number one, she’s madly in love with Sam. Number two, she’d never ever leave Cas when she already knew he’d be uncomfortable.  
He spins, looking wildly around the room. There’s a staircase in the far right corner. He heads over to it, waits till no one is looking, and then runs up. The upstairs is off limits but maybe Jess came up here. If Sam called she would’ve wanted to answer it, and it’s too loud downstairs to hear anything.  
Most of the doors are closed but there is one that’s ajar at the end of the hall. A light is coming through. Cas heads straight for it and hears a deep voice saying something softly.  
“C’mon sweetheart. Of course you want to.”  
Cas pushes the door open.  
“What the fuck is going on here?”  
The guy sitting on the bed with his hands on Jess’s hips snaps his head up towards the door and sneers.  
“Get out of here, freak. This doesn’t concern you.”  
Jess looks like she can’t hold herself up, let alone form a coherent word. Which doesn’t make sense because Cas knows that since their first weekend at Stanford, when she got so drunk she blacked out, Jess never drinks more than one cup of anything at a party.  
“Actually, it does concern me because that’s my best friend and you sure as hell aren’t her boyfriend. What did you do to her?”  
The oaf on the bed sneers again. “Slipped a party favor into her cup,” he guffaws. Cas charges and Jess falls to the floor. The guy is caught off guard and Cas throws a punch that definitely breaks his nose. While he falls back cupping his face and groaning, Cas quickly gathers up Jess and, with a lot of difficulty, gets her downstairs and outside.  
He starts searching her pockets. No keys. No phone. Shit. He pulls out his phone and thanks God Jess programmed Sam’s number into it in case of emergencies. Cas dials it. It rings six times and goes to voicemail. He calls again, and again, and again. The fifth time he calls, someone finally answers.  
“Hey blondie, everything okay?” Definitely not Sam.  
“Uh, hey, actually this is Cas. Jess’s friend. I need Sam.”  
“He went to the gym, forgot his phone. This is Dean. What’s wrong?”  
“Shit. Some douchebag spiked Jess’s drink at this stupid fucking party and her keys are missing. Fuck.”  
“Text the address to this phone. I’m coming.” The line goes dead. Cas does as he’s told and waits on the curb, cradling Jess’s head in his lap.  
Not ten minutes later Cas hears the purr of a sleek black, classic Chevy Impala pulling up right in front of him.  
A tall, broad shouldered, bow legged man gets out. If Jess wasn’t unconscious in his lap, Cas’s jaw would’ve dropped.  
“Hey. Get her in the car. I’m gonna go find the douchebag and beat the shit out of him.”  
Cas jumps up, pulling Jess with him.  
“Hey! No, don’t. Not worth it. I need to get her home to take care of her.”  
Dean stares at him for a minute. “Is she okay?”  
Cas understands what he’s asking. “Yeah, I found her in time. Just help me get her home. Please Dean.”  
Dean and Cas get Jess into the back seat and through some interesting turn of events, Dean ends up opening the passenger’s side door for Cas and Cas gets in and Dean shuts it. Cas wills the blush on his cheeks to disappear, but it doesn’t happen.  
Dean starts driving and says, “Sam will kill me if I don’t bring her back to our place.”  
Cas nods, “Yeah that’s probably best. She’ll want him when she wakes up.”  
They drive the rest of the way in silence. When they arrive at Sam and Dean’s off campus apartment, Dean hands Cas the keys and easily lifts Jess up into his harms. He motions for Cas to go ahead.  
Cas unlocks the door and holds it open for Dean. Sam is sitting on the couch, turning to say something to his brother.  
“Hey Dean where you be-,” he turns to see his brother carrying his unconscious girlfriend in his arms. “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?”  
Dean gives Cas a pointed look while he carries Jess to Sam’s bedroom.  
“Hey, Sam, look at me. Breathe. She’s fine. Okay? That’s the most important thing. She just needs to sleep it off.”  
Cas sits Sam down on the couch. “What happened, Cas?” he demands.  
“We went to that party. She told you we were going. I lost her for a few minutes and next thing I know I barge in on some guy groping her. He spiked her drink.”  
Sam practically growls, “What?” He makes to stand, but Cas pushes him down hard.  
“Listen to me. She is okay. I found her, I broke the guy’s nose, and I called you to come get us. You’d left your phone so Dean answered it after I called a few times. I told him what happened and he came and got us right away.”  
Sam stares at him, obviously processing Cas’s words very slowly.  
“Sam, breathe. We don’t need two passed out people in this apartment.” Cas laughs shakily. The gravity of what could’ve happened isn’t lost on him.  
“Okay. Let me up. I have to go check on her.”  
Cas examines his face for a minute to make sure he isn’t going to tear out of the apartment to kill someone. Sam’s face softens and he sighs.  
“Cas, really, I’m fine. Let me go to her.”  
Cas nods curtly and takes his hands off Sam’s shoulders. Sam goes directly to his room, barks at Dean to get out, and shuts the door.  
Dean stumbles out with an offended look on his face. “He’s like a mama bear whose cub was threatened. I was helping!”  
“He knows that, Dean. He’s just had the crap scared out of him though. He really loves her.”  
Dean sighs. “Yeah, he does.” The admiration in his voice isn’t lost to Cas.  
They sit in silence for several minutes until Cas clears his throat. “So…I don’t want to intrude on your space, but I don’t really want to leave before I’m sure she’s okay,” he says apologetically.  
“No, of course, man. Stay as long as you like, not a problem.” Dean smiles. Huh. No dimples. 

~

Three weeks later, Cas is pretty sure Jess is suffering from PTSD. She absolutely refuses to go anywhere without Cas or Sam, or preferably both. At first it was awkward because she’d ask Cas to tag along with her and Sam when they’d go places and they couldn’t really object because it made her feel safer. Sam would be damned if he denied her anything that made her feel safer. So yeah, it was awkward, Cas being a third wheel and all. But then Jess started asking Dean to come along too, and suddenly it starts to feel a lot like double dating.  
“So…what do you think of Dean?” she asks him one day while they’re waiting for their speech professor to show up.  
“He’s kind of an ass sometimes,” Cas answers.  
“Mmhhmm,” Jess urges him on.  
“But…mostly he’s a good guy. A really good guy.”  
Jess beams.  
Later that night, wrapped in Sam’s bed sheets, she says, “So, your brother.”  
“Baby can we not talk about my brother while I’m naked?”  
“Shut up. What does he think of Cas?”  
“I knew it,” Sam grumbles and pulls on his boxers.  
“Knew what?” she asks innocently.  
“You’re matchmaking again, aren’t you?”  
She bats her eyelashes at him until he sighs. “Well honestly…Dean can’t shut up about the guy. Cas said this and Cas did that. We could probably just lock them in a room together and let them go at it.”  
Jess laughs. “Good, then my plan is working.”  
“Dean’ll kill you if he finds out that’s the only reason you keep asking him to hang out with us.”  
“That’s not the only reason! Maybe I’ve developed a case of hero worship cause he came to my rescue,” she teases. Sam rolls his eyes. “Besides, even if he does find out, you won’t let him kill me,” she leans up and kisses Sam on the lips before nuzzling against his side to fall asleep.  
“I love you,” he says softly.  
“Love you too, babe,” she yawns. 

~

“You know Jess tried to set us up ages ago,” Cas says nonchalantly.  
“And why didn’t that happen?” Dean asks, repositioning himself so his fingertips rest lightly on the jut of Cas’s hip.  
“Because it made me feel too pathetic. And I was too busy having a pity party because she was happy with Sam and I was alone,” Cas admits, leaning into the arm wrapped around his waist.  
“There is nothing pathetic about you Cas,” Dean assures him.  
Cas scoffs, “Right. I can’t even make polite conversation with strangers, Dean.”  
“You talked to me just fine the first time we met,” he points out.  
“Extenuating circumstance,” Cas justifies.  
“Maybe so, but most people suck anyway. You don’t wanna talk to them. They wouldn’t get you.”  
“The way you get me?” Cas asks with a smile.  
“Exactly. I completely get you Cas,” he grins, pushing Cas down on the bed and pressing his lips to Cas’s throat.  
They don’t talk for a long time after that.  
Later, with Cas’s ear pressed to Dean’s heart and Dean’s hands running through Cas’s hair, Dean asks, “When are we gonna tell them about us?”  
“Eh, a few more days. I don’t want to give Jess the satisfaction just yet.”  
Dean chuckles. “You aren’t ashamed of me, are you,” he teases.  
Cas pushes up Dean’s shirt and starts kissing a line down the hot skin of Dean’s chest. Then he looks up into Dean’s green eyes and says, “Never.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not a good story until there's some angst, right?

“So…” Dean starts. “Your sister and brother-in-law. And their kids.”  
“Well think of it more like my mom and dad. And my sisters. Anna and Michael have been raising me as their own since my mom died when I was five. To me, they’re my parents.”  
Dean shudders. “Not helping dude.”  
Cas laughs. “Relax Dean. They already love you from everything I’ve told them.”  
“Aww, baby you talk about me to your parents?”  
Cas rolls his eyes. “We’ve been together six months Dean. Of course I told them about you. Watch out for Beth and Ruby though. They’re fond of playing jokes on new people.”  
“You’re talking to the guy who raised Sam, Cas. There’s nothing I haven’t seen.”  
“If you say so,” Cas smiles, pressing a kiss to Dean’s stubbly cheek.  
Twenty minutes later Dean pulls into Cas’s driveway. Dean chuckles at the sight of Sammy’s car in the drive next door.  
“Wonder how he’s faring over there with Jess’s folks,” Dean muses.  
“Oh I meant to tell you. I talked to her this morning. Peter and Liza adore him apparently. He’s getting a college degree and doesn’t have anything pierced so he’s golden in their eyes.”  
“They sound delightful. Good thing Sammy’s always been good with parents.”  
They sit in silence for a minute and then Cas grabs Dean’s face and kisses him, slow and sweet.  
“You’re gonna be great Dean.”  
They get out of the Impala and Cas digs the key out of his pocket.  
“MOM! DAD! I’M HOME,” Cas calls out.  
Dean follows Cas cautiously into the kitchen.  
The scene they find brings tears to Dean’s eyes, though he’ll never admit it.  
A relatively young woman with vibrantly red hair is wearing an apron the color of the sun, laughing with a wooden spoon in her hand, which seems to be animating the story she’s telling. A tall, burly, blond man in sweatpants and a wifebeater leans against the kitchen counter, wiping tears out of his eyes, still shaking with laughter. The instant Dean and Cas appear, two identical shrieks break out from the direction of the kitchen table and suddenly two blurs are upon them. Cas is being assaulted by what appears to be a pair of identical eight year olds.  
“Cassie’s home! Cassie’s home!” they chant.  
Cas shoots Dean a look that clearly says that should Dean ever call him Cassie, he’d be getting his ass kicked.  
“Hey girls,” Cas laughs, kissing them each on the forehead before they run off again.  
Suddenly the man is there, pulling Cas into a tight hug.  
“Cas, good to have you home, son. Maybe your mother will let me hear the game now, instead of painstakingly recounting the number of days since you were last here,” he chuckles, releasing Cas.  
“Oh you ass,” the woman hits him with her spoon. “Don’t listen to him, he exaggerates,” she leans in and kisses Cas on the cheek.  
“Mom, Dad. This is my boyfriend, Dean,” Cas introduces.  
There is a moment of silence. “You’re gay?” Michael deadpans. It is so silent for the next ten seconds that Dean can literally hear his heart sputter to a complete stop.  
Then both of Cas’s parents burst out into hysterical laughter, going on and on about the look on Dean’s face. Cas chuckles and quickly takes Dean’s hand to give it a squeeze.  
“Dean these are my insufferable parents. I promise I’ll make it up to you if you put up with them all weekend. Oh and those shrieking banshees were Beth and Ruby, my sisters.”  
“Hey!” a protest comes from the living room, where the TV is now playing the Hannah Montana theme song.  
“Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Novak,” Dean barely manages not to stutter, extending his hand out.  
“Oh please. Don’t be ridiculous,” the woman says as she pulls him into a tight hug. “The way Cas gushes about you, you’re family Dean. Call me Anna. And my husband is Michael. Like I said, don’t you listen to a thing he says, he could make a profession out of exaggerating.”  
Michael takes Dean’s hand when Anna lets him go and gives it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you, boy. Good to have a face for the name,” he smiles warmly.  
“Likewise, sir.”  
Dean falls in love immediately with the Novaks. Anna is warm and sweet, and her cooking kicks ass. Michael’s laugh fills every room in the house and he knows cars, as Dean is thrilled to find out.  
So far the twins have made him sit on three whoopee cushions and set a pet hamster on him. Dean takes it all in stride, imagining it as a sort of initiation. After a while they lose interest and start harassing Cas again.  
Cas laughs more than Dean’s ever seen him laugh in a room with this many people. He’s comfortable here, and Dean’s glad he’s a part of that.  
When Anna hands him an extra blanket and tells him she knows what a cover hog Cas is, Dean almost coughs up a lung.  
She laughs at him. “You boys are adults. What goes on between you two is none of my business,” she puts her hands up in the air as she walks away.  
Cas grabs Dean’s hand and shows him to his bedroom. Dean teases him endlessly about the fact that it is nerd paradise.  
When they leave a day and a half later, it is with promises that they will both be coming back very soon. Anna kisses both of them on the cheek tenderly and hands them a bag with about a hundred Tupperware containers of food. Cas rolls his eyes when Dean pumps his fist and says, “Score.”  
Michael gives them both firm hugs and pats them on the back. “Stay out of trouble. And call her more often,” he says softly, motioning back to the house Anna has already retreated into. “She misses you, Cas. And Dean, you’re as good as a son to her now, so you better call too.”  
Dean definitely doesn’t tear up at that. He assumes Cas has filled his parents in on his own parental situation. It means the world to him that they’ve welcomed him into their home and their family so warmly. 

 

~

 

“Dean…”  
“No Cas, it’s fine. Really. Just….have a nice life.” Dean is snatching up his book bag and is out the door before Cas can say anything else. He bites the inside of his mouth so hard he tears the skin and then he sucks on the trickle of blood there.  
Cas and Dean have been together a year and a half. Cas is about to finish his sophomore year and Dean is graduating. Cas still lives in a dorm, technically, but he has a toothbrush and a towel and a razor in Dean’s bathroom. And two drawers in the dresser.  
The problem is Dean just got an incredible offer to do everything he was hoping for.  
And of course that means the rest of his life promptly goes up in flames.  
He’d come home from having lunch with his potential new boss to find Cas in his bed, reading, wrapped in one of Dean’s band t-shirts.  
“Hey baby.” He’d said.  
Cas had looked up and beamed at him.  
“How was it?” Cas had asked, going to Dean, leaning up to press a simple kiss to Dean’s lips.  
Dean had taken a step away from Cas, scratching the back of his neck.  
Cas’s eyebrows had furrowed but he didn’t mention it.  
“I got it,” Dean had answered. “But there’s a catch.”  
Cas had stared at him inquiringly.  
“I have to go to Chicago.”  
“Oh.”  
They hadn’t made any decisions that night, deciding to focus more on the fact that Dean had just been offered his dream job than that it would be the thing to tear them apart.  
Several days later Cas had had enough time to sufficiently freak himself out in order to do something really fucking stupid. He called Dean over to his dorm room. Dean had been caught off guard. If Cas wanted to see him, he usually just used the spare key to Dean and Sam’s place.  
Dean had walked in and set his bag down. “Hey, what’s up?”  
“I think,” Cas screws his eyes shut, cowardly, not wanting to see Dean’s face when he said the thing. “That we should end this.”  
“What?” Genuine shock.  
“I just think maybe this thing between us has run its course?” He hadn’t actually thought that at all. Actually, up until now he’d thought he’d probably marry Dean and adopt a couple of little monsters and die of old age, clutching Dean’s wrinkled hand, surrounded by grandchildren. Not that he’s ever said that aloud. He’s not that pathetic.  
“This is about Chicago.” Dean hadn’t said it like a question.  
Cas had denied it anyway. It was then that Dean’s face contorted into a pained expression that had tears rolling out of Cas’s eyes.  
That’s how Cas had ended up standing alone in his dorm room, crying, and Deanless. 

 

~

 

“Mom,” he gasps into the phone. He’s never called Anna in a state like this, but Jess is in New York for the weekend with Sam and Cas can’t seem to remember how to breathe.  
“Cas? What happened?”  
“Can you come pick me up? I want to be home.” Even as the last word comes out of his mouth, his heart threatens to jump out of the sinking ship that is Cas’s chest cavity. He knows Anna and Michael’s place is safe, but the word home doesn’t apply to it, not anymore. He knows what place he considers home, and it certainly isn’t his practically bare dorm room either.  
“I’m coming.” He hears keys and the shutting of the front door. He thinks she’s gonna hang up, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t say anything either, but she stays on with him. Cas tries to follow the rhythm of her breaths with his own. 

 

~

 

“Christ, Cas.”  
Jess is sitting in his bed with him, arms wrapped around him. Sam is sitting next to her.  
“I know why you did it Cas, obviously. I understand. But do you actually think this is for the best?” Sam asks.  
“I know it isn’t,” Cas admits.  
“Then what the hell are you still doing in these smelly sweatpants, avoiding campus?” Jess asks gently.  
“Cas, you and Dean would be able to make the long distance thing work,” Sam assures him, nodding to himself like he actually believes it.  
A laugh bursts out from behind Cas’s lips and everyone jumps a little because Cas hasn’t made a sound resembling a laugh in over a week. Jess and Sam are staring at him, waiting for an explanation and Cas just shakes his head. It’s funny because in all the scenarios that Cas ran through his head in the days before the break up, the thought of a long distance relationship never struck him. Not once.  
Cas realizes now that that is because it isn’t an option. He always had three choices, the way he could see it. One: Ask Dean to turn the job down. But there is no way Cas could do that. The offer was the realization of all the things Dean had worked for throughout his 6 years of education. Cas could be selfish sometimes, but never that selfish. Two: Go with Dean. Transfer to a school in Chicago, God knows there are plenty of good ones. But Cas couldn’t do that either, because even though he and Dean had been together for over a year, he wasn’t sure enough about anything to leave his home state, where his parents lived, where his best friend lived, to go off and live with a man he’d barely known for two years. And Three: Break up with Dean. Sever ties as cleanly as he could. That’s the one he’d opted for, obviously, but he knew that now to be the biggest mistake of his life.  
Dean was in the final stage of wrapping up his affairs for the big move. Jess would taking over Dean’s half in the lease on his and Sam’s apartment, as she practically lived there already. And he’d made arrangements with all of his professors to turn in all his assignments early, and he’d fly in for the graduation ceremony in a month. The company Dean worked for had set him up with a nice apartment that they would pay for for the next three months, until Dean could secure his own place. Packing up all his things was the only thing left to do now.  
Suddenly Cas jumped up out of Jess’s arms.  
“Cas, what are you doing?”  
“I have to go talk to someone.”  
He didn’t even bother to change out of his sweatpants and ratty t-shirt. He just walked right out, leaving his best friend and her boyfriend in his bed without a second thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Cas knocks on the door tentatively. It isn't completely closed, just ajar, and he can hear the sounds of Dean taping up boxes. He still had the key to the apartment that Dean had given him months ago, so he'd let himself in, hoping to find a less angry Dean that might be willing to listen.  
The door swung completely open suddenly and Cas took a step back.  
Dean stood there staring at him with an expression that Cas wanted to kiss away and never see again.   
"What are you doing here Cas? Come to say a final goodbye?"  
Cas's heart clenches, begging him desperately to tell Dean already and put them both out of their misery. He doesn't say anything though, just reaches into his pocket and unfolds a piece of paper, and hands it to Dean with hands slightly trembling.   
Dean takes it, keeping his eyes on Cas's face. He looks terrified, and although Dean is still angry, he never wants Cas to look that scared. Not of him.   
He glances down at the creased paper. The header says University of Chicago. The letter begins with the words "Dear Mr. Castiel Novak." 

Cas watches as the predictable crease forms between Dean's confused eyebrows. He can tell that Dean isn't reading the letter. His eyes are merely glued to the top of the page.   
Finally, he looks up at Cas. "What is this, Cas?"  
"Read it," Cas prompts softly, walking around Dean to plop down on the lone, bare mattress that sits on the floor now. All the furniture has already been shipped east. He watches as Dean looks back at the page and his eyes gradually drift downwards, but the expression on his face remains blank, suspended in disbelief.  
"Cas..." Dean shakes the paper in his hand a little, "this is an acceptance letter to UChicago."  
"Yeah. It is."  
The understanding crashes through Dean's features and a slew of emotions Cas doesn't have time to decipher cross run across his face. 

"Cas, you don't have to do this. I mean...I'm not asking you to...I mean if you really want to continue us we can do long distance. I don't want you to think you have to come with me. I'd never ask you to abandon your life to follow me halfway across the country."

Cas's face falls. "You don't want me." He doesn't mean to say that exactly. He doesn't mean to phrase it so pathetically. What he actually means to say is 'You don't want me to go with you,' it's just that the second half gets lost somewhere in the bitter realization that he might've ruined this beautiful thing permanently out of utter stupidity. 

Dean immediately moves towards him, and Cas, still drowning in the fear that he can't undo his mistake, doesn't notice as Dean pulls him off the mattress and grips his hips between his hands. His attention snaps back to the present when he notices Dean's green eyes looking directly into his own blue ones. 

"Of course I want you. And there is nothing I want more in the entire world than for you to come to Chicago with me. But...Cas, I don't want you to do this solely for me, because you're afraid of losing me. I don't want you to do this for the wrong reasons and end up resenting me, hating me."

Oh. 

That is so Dean, Cas thinks.

He laughs, relief singing through his chest like a hummingbird, his heart beating like the wings of one. "Dean, honestly. I've thought this one through. I'm coming with you this weekend to help us get settled in and then I'll come back, finish my semester, and head back to you. I'm already enrolled for next semester at UChicago. Please, don't make me live in a dorm for another year," Cas pouts. 

Dean laughs and pulls Cas in closer by the hips. "Oh there is absolutely no way you aren't spending every night from now on in my bed," Dean kisses him chastely on the lips.

"Our bed," Cas corrects, chasing his lips and deepening the kiss. 

~

"You two take care of yourselves. And call when you land. And if you need anything, money or anything while you're settling in, don't hesitate to ask me. We don't have to tell you mother, she'll just worry that her boys are starving out there in that cold death trap of a city, as she like to call it. But I can get you what you need, whenever, okay?"

Michael can make fun of Anna all he wants for always clucking around them like a mother hen, but he's just as bad, if not worse at times. 

"Michael, you know we're going out there because I have a job. One that pays well. Keep your money, old man. You've got two girls who're gonna need it for college soon enough," Dean laughs.

"Ssshhh, they might get ideas! And you might as well cut out the 'Michael' crap and start calling me Dad. You're taking Cas with you half way across the country; you're practically married already for God's sake.

Cas gawks at his father, feeling mortified, while Dean just laughs and agrees with Michael. 

Anna comes out of the house with what smells like a freshly baked pie in hand. Handing it to Cas, she says, "For your trip." It's clear from the sound of her voice and the red around her eyes that she's just managed to stop crying, not wanting them to see. She's been nothing but supportive, of course, but they both know how hard it is for her to see them go. Cas gives her a kiss on the cheek and let's her hold him tightly to her for several minutes.

"Try to make friends, Cassie, okay? Don't shut everyone out. I worry about you, and Dean's gonna be busy with the new job, so don't you go getting your feathers ruffled if he doesn't have a lot of time for you. I know how you get," she straightens his collar, and gives him one last kiss. 

She turns to Dean. "Thanks for the pie, Mom," he says softly. She gasps and loses the firm hold she had on her tears, letting fall freely as she pulls Dean in. Dean winces a little at how hard she hugs him. She's a tiny thing, compared to him, but she holds him as if she herself has brought him into the world and raised him for all twenty five years of his life. Dean tears up at that. "You take care of him. And yourself. And call me if he gets into one of his moods, you know I'm the only one who can snap him out of his funks. Remember to eat while you're doing all that hard work too, I know you forget. You're too skinny," she sniffles. Dean knows he isn't, but he doesn't contradict her.

"Yes ma'am," he nods as she finally pulls away. Cas and Dean get in the car and hear her shout out a final "Call me!" as they drive away from the house.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for neglecting Sam and Jess! Here, have some fluff to make up for it!

"It's kind of quiet without them, isn't it?" Jess says sadly, leaning against the door frame of her and Sam's new extra bedroom. It's just an old mattress and a few empty boxes now.

Sam sighs. He knows what she means. Cas was her best friend, and Dean was his. The reality hadn't quite set in while Cas was still around, finishing the semester. And then Dean had been back for a few days for graduation and to help Cas gather up the last of his things. It was almost like they weren't going anywhere for a few blissful days. Now they were both gone and Jess and Sam both feel a little lost without the two people they've had around their whole lives. 

"On the upside," Jess turns and stretches her arms around his neck and grinning, "we can have raucous sex all over the apartment without worrying about anyone bitching us out."

Sam laughs, knows she just wants to see him smile. It's the first time in his whole life that Dean hasn't been in the room next door and his coping skills are shit. 

 

~

Jess gets up a whole hour and a half before him, even though he has to leave first. She makes him coffee and goes for a run and showers and always wakes him up by sitting on his back and passing her hovering fingertips across his bare back. And Sam knows they're young (Jess is only just about to start her third year of undergrad and Sam's just gotten his acceptance to Stanford Law), and it is a long long way off, but he is 110% sure that Jess is The One. 

The summer is good to them. Sam gets a recommendation from a renowned professor for an internship at a big firm. Jess finally stops biting through her bottom lip trying to decide whether or not to go pre-med and gets a desk job at a free clinic. Money is tight but Sam's been living on a student's budget for years now, and Jess's parents pay her half of the rent, so her whole paycheck goes towards groceries and half of the bills. 

On nights it isn't raining, they throw all the windows open and wrap themselves around each other. Sam often wakes up in the middle of the night with a mouthful of blonde curls and smiles gratefully to himself. 

~

"Sam," Jess says casually one day, sitting on the kitchen counter with a spoon in a pudding cup that Sam told her not to eat because she's going to ruin her dinner, not that she ever listens to him. 

"Yeah, baby?" He's coating raw chicken in bread crumbs and also trying not to get burned by the hot frying pan of oil currently hissing at him from the stove top. 

"How do you feel about kids?"

Thankfully he's still at the counter with the raw chicken and not standing over the hot oil. He drops the chicken and scatters bread crumbs all over the counter. Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, he turns to her. 

"Jess, are you....?"

"Oh God no! We're careful. I'm not anywhere near ready for that!"

Sam releases a sigh of relief. "Good. Neither am I," he says honestly. 

"But someday?" she prompts.

He tilts his head and smiles at the thought of a baby with his eyes and her hair. He nods. "Yeah. Definitely someday," he answers.

"Good," she grins and goes back to ruining her dinner. 

~

One day Sam comes home later than usual and finds Jess curled up on the couch, clutching a sweatshirt. As he gets closer he realizes that it isn't one of his. A pang of jealousy and a weird ache bubble up in the pit of his stomach. He walks right by her, into their bedroom, and shuts the door. He goes to bed alone, leaving Jess on the couch. 

In the morning, Jess comes into the bathroom as Sam finishes brushing his teeth.

"Hey," she says.

"Hi." 

"Why didn't you wake me when you got in so I could go to bed with you?" she asks, clearly hurt. 

"Whose sweater was that you fell asleep with on the couch?" Sam shoots back. "Not one of mine. Too small."

"Oh," she takes a step back. She looks about ready to burst into tears. "I...um...I asked Cas to leave it for me before he left. Sometimes when you're busy, working late, or...you know, stuff, I miss him more than usual. It's just, you know, it smells like him and we grew up together so it's kind of like the smell of home. I know it's weird. I can get rid of it though, if it bothers you. It's not a big deal," she bites the inside of her cheek. 

"Shit," Sam rubs his hands over his face. Now he feels like the biggest asshat in the world. "No, Jess, baby I'm sorry. Keep it, definitely. Of course that's okay. I'm just an idiot and I got jealous 'cause I didn't know whose it was."

"You thought I was cheating on you?" she asks incredulously. 

"No!" he shouts too quickly. "Well...um..I guess I just..."

"Come here you big idiot," she leans up and kisses him softly, then takes his face in her small hands. "I can't do any better than you, Sam Winchester. There's no one else out there I would possibly want."

He kisses her hard after that and they both end up late for work that morning. 

~

School starts again too soon and Sam's hardly home between the part time job he takes to keep them afloat and his Law school courses. Which is fine because Jess is drowning in biochem terms most of the time and only notices his absence when she falls asleep alone and wakes up alone on most days. 

It's two in the morning on a day in October and Jess is sitting in the dark, waiting for the sound of Sam's key in the door. He has a major test this week and he's spending every spare moment in the library. It's the third night in a row that he's been gone well past midnight. 

Her phone rings on the bedside table and she snatches it up quickly, startled to see Cas's name on the screen. 

"Cas! What the hell are you doing up? It's like four in the morning there!"

"Dean's not home yet. Can't sleep," Cas yawns into the phone.

"What do you mean he's not home?"

"Huge project. Presentation is next week. He's been sleeping on the couch in his office the past two nights," Cas sighs. "I didn't think you'd be up though. I called out of wishful thinking mostly."

"Sam's got a test this week. He's been spending all his time at the library."

They both sit silently for a while, listening to each other's breath. 

"It's harder than the movies make it seem, huh," Cas lets out an airy laugh and Jess knows he's having a hard time with this new life too. 

"Yeah," Jess snorts. "Somehow they all skip over the part where sometimes other things are more important than sitting around making googly eyes at each other all the time."

Cas lets out a real laugh this time. "I miss making googly eyes."

"Me too, Cas." She hears the rustle of sheets over the phone and assumes Cas is getting comfortable in bed, so she does the same. They don't talk anymore, just lay on the phone, comforted by the sound of breathing, like when they were ten years old and had exhausted every topic and had nothing left to do but lay there quietly next to each other. 

"G'night Jess," Cas mumbles, just like when they were kids.

"Night, Cas."

~

Time passes without anybody's notice and somehow Thanksgiving rolls into town and then rolls right back out. For Sam and Jess, the sleepless nights get longer and they barely exchange two syllables most mornings, as finals approach rapidly. But the semester end in success for both of them.

Jess's last final is on a Tuesday morning. She left Sam snoring loudly in their bed at 7 AM. His paper of the semester was proof read and electronically submitted just before midnight on Monday. 

Jess comes to the apartment door and pauses, pressing her ear to the door. Yeah, that's definitely music. Loud music. And Sam singing, which he hasn't done in months. She smiles and turns her key in the lock, but before she can open the door properly, she's being lifted off her feet by her giant Sasquatch of a boyfriend and twirled through the air. 

"We did it!" he laughs. "We made it through one hell of a semester!"

"Jesus, Sam! Put me down," she laughs with him. 

He puts her back on her feet and she makes a spectacle of straightening her blouse and fixing her hair. "I'm taking you somewhere nice for dinner tonight," he says firmly.

"Sam we can't afford a fancy restaurant," Jess protests.

"Don't start. I'm not asking; we're going." 

She tries to scowl at him, but it doesn't last, and instead she grins. "God, it's good to have you back," she sighs, pressing herself into him.

"I know, baby. I'm sorry. I'll try to be better about balancing everything come January," he wraps his arms around her waist. 

"I know. It's not your fault, and it's not like I was doing a much better job of making time for us. It's just good to hear you laugh and talk, instead of the half asleep grunts I've been getting lately," she laughs. It's funny now, after the fact, although it definitely wasn't funny in the past few weeks. 

"Guess who got three weeks off from work because he landed the biggest deal the of the year?" Sam teases excitedly.

Jess gasps, "Dean!??"

Sam nods like an ecstatic five year old. "They'll be here in three days. Cas wanted me to let you know."

Jess squeals and Sam twirls her in the air again as he kisses her.


	6. Chapter 6

"I hate this place," Cas grumbles to himself, balling up the freshly cleaned sheets and throwing them on the bed in frustration. It's the third time he's done laundry this week already. 

The summer is passing too slowly for his liking. He spends his days alone, hiding in the apartment, waiting for Dean to come home. The first few weeks he was so miserable he would just watch infomercials all day, ended up ordering dozens of things that are now just taking up space in the front hall closet. Dean and Cas are the proud owners of three waffle irons that double as alarm clocks, a set of shake-it weights in every available color, and a crate full sham-wows. 

The day the giant box had arrived at their door, Dean had found it when he'd come home from work. 

"Cas, what the hell is in this thing?"

"Oh, that's probably those super absorbent cloth thingies. The TV guy said they could soak up to twenty times its own weight in liquid," Cas explains casually. 

"Cas, those things don't actually work, you know. And even if they did, why the hell would we need this many of them?"

Cas fixes him with an ice cold glare. "I don't know, Dean. I thought they'd come in handy. What the hell else am I supposed to do in this God forsaken city!" He throws his hands up and retreats to the bedroom, where he slams the door before Dean can follow him. 

After, Cas agrees that he should probably cut back on the infomercials. So he starts watching FoodTV instead, and Dean starts coming home to meals with names he can't pronounce. He refrains from making a joke about his pretty little housewife because they don't have a couch and he'll have to sleep on the floor if he gets himself kicked out of their bed. 

~

"Do we have to go?"

"You don't, Cas. I can go alone. It's okay, I promise. I know how hard these things are for you," Dean pulls on a pair of clean underwear as he drops his towel. Cas hums appreciatively at the view. Dean blushes, still, after all this time, at having someone else's eyes on him. 

"Are you sure?" Cas asks. 

"Yeah, Cas." Dean hides the disappointment well, but not well enough.

Cas leaves the room without another word and Dean sighs and continues getting dressed. Twenty minutes later, as Dean undoes his tie for the third time because he can never seem to do it right, Cas reenters, fully dressed. 

Dean's eyes light up and Cas gives him a rare, full smile that reaches all the way to the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. 

"Really?" Dean asks hopefully. 

"I would never deprive you of a chance to show off your gorgeous boyfriend," Cas says without a hint of teasing in his voice. He spends the rest of the night on Dean's arm, making him look good for the bosses. Not for the first time, Dean thinks maybe he should find out what kind of ring Cas would like to wear. 

~

"I can't Dean."

"Yes you can Cas. I don't have time to go apartment hunting, not with everything they're expecting me to do at work. All the higher ups have their eyes trained on me. I still have to prove myself."

"That's ridiculous. I thought you proved yourself in the interview. That's why they gave you the job, isn't it?"

Dean sighs in frustration. "It's just how things are. I really need your help on finding a permanent place for us," Dean begs. 

Cas says nothing for a moment, then nods. "You're right. I can do this," he sighs, sounding more like he's reassuring himself. 

"You're incredible, babe," Dean pulls him in by the hips, placing soft, wet, teasing kisses on Cas's neck.

"Anything for you," Cas's voice hitches slightly. 

The next day Cas gets in contact with a real-estate agent. He tries to include Dean in the decision making, but all Dean ever says is to make sure there’s easy access to pie, to eventually Cas just stops asking. It's almost two months before he says anything to Dean about it again. 

Dean comes home to find that the apartment smells like heaven. Cas catches him at the door with the kind of kiss they've both been too distracted to share in a couple weeks. Before Dean even knows what's happening, his suit jacket is hanging in the closet and his tie is lose around his neck and Cas only has two buttons not undone buttons on his button-down. It isn't until Dean shoves him up against the wall that Cas squeaks and pushes him off. 

He's still breathing heavy when he lets out a chuckle, "Dean, later. I promise. I made dinner, and I got out the good wine. There's something I have to tell you." Cas can't seem to get his breathing in order, not with Dean's hands tightening on his hips and the feel of his teeth and lips alternating at the line of his jaw. 

"D-Dean, dinner will be ruined," Cas whines and finally Dean pulls away, placing one last gentle kiss to his lips. 

"Alright, alright," Dean laughs. "It does smell incredible in here."

They get halfway through the meal before Dean remembers. "Whatdyou wanna takabou?" he says through a mouthful of crunchy, steamed asparagus. Cas plays with his food for a few minutes until he can feel Dean's stare drilling a hole through the top of his head. 

"I found a place. It's perfect, has an incredible view and a home office and two extra bedrooms besides the master bedroom for when Jess and Sam come, or my parents, or both at the same time. And a decent yard, in case we decide to go ahead and get a dog, I know you've been thinking about it. And it's well within our price range." Cas hardly breathes as he explains. 

"Thasounds great Ca," Dean replies, this time through a mouthful of roasted garlic potatoes. 

"There's one thing though, that I'm not sure about," he glances up in time to see Dean swallow and put down his fork. 

"What is it?"

"It's a house. We'd be...um...well...we'd be buying a house if we....if you...uh..if you agree to it." Cas can't look Dean in the eye. It's one thing to move in together, and another thing entirely to buy a house with a person. And although Cas is pretty sure that for his part at least, he's never going to love anyone but Dean, Dean probably isn't ready to make that sort of commitment. Cas starts to open his mouth to tell Dean to forget about it, but suddenly the firm hands are on either side of his face.

"If you think the place is perfect for us Cas, then I agree with you. You moved across the country for me, babe. I don't think buying a house with you is a bigger step than that. Cas smiles so brilliantly then that Dean has to kiss him. And the remainder of their meal sits on the table until late the next morning.


	7. Chapter 7

When Dean get's out of the car, his palms are uncharacteristically sweaty. He shouldn't be nervous, he knows. Anna and Michael are probably about ready to strangle him for how long it's taken him to get to this moment. Sam asked Jess six months ago, on the day he finally had his Stanford law degree in hand. She said yes, of course and they all looked like a bunch of fools that night, sitting in a nice restaurant, all dolled up, with tears in their eyes when Jess showed them the rock now nestled on her left ring finger. If Dean wakes up at two in the morning to the sounds of Jess and Cas giggling in the living room about wedding plans, he's going to wring (no pun intended) both their pretty little necks. 

Anna opens the door before he even rings the doorbell, with that smile like she knows exactly what he's thinking. She probably does. She may not have given birth to him but she loves him like she did, knows him like she raised him herself. 

"Hey baby," she pulls him into a hug and he chuckles. "Where's Cas?"

"Told him I had some errands to run. Got some stuff to talk to you and Dad about."

When Anna pulls back and leads them both into the living room, where Michael's reading with his old man glasses on, she still hasn't dropped the dazzling smile she's giving him. 

"Hey son," Michael greets casually. Dean knows that Michael knows why he's here. But Michael's always been more subtle than Anna. 

"Hey old man. Nice glasses," Dean sits on the couch and takes the glass of Coke Anna hands him. 

"You shut up," Michael says, pretending to be offended. Dean let's the room go quiet for a few seconds and then sighs. He might as well get to the point already because they're gonna keep looking at him that way all night otherwise.

"Alright, I know you both know why I'm here," Dean begins. 

Michael raises an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

Dean groans. "You're gonna make me do the whole the speech thing aren't you?"

Anna laughs, "Damn right we are!"

"Alright fine," Dean grumbles. "Okay so I know it's a little old fashioned but you two have always so protective of Cas and so supportive of our relationship, which you know means a lot to me cause I will never know how my parents would've felt about it. And you've welcomed me in your family from the very first time we met like your own son and that means the world to me also. You didn't resent me when I moved us both to Illinois and then you let us live here those first few months when we came back, and I respect and love you both so much I just want to have your blessing before I ask Cas to marry me." It all comes out of Dean's mouth in a single breath and he can't stare at anything but the wall in those few seconds of silence before someone else says something. 

Four years after Cas and Dean moved to Chicago, a month after Cas finished his Masters' degree, Dean had told him that he should look for a job in California. After a brief shouting match due to the fact that Cas misunderstood, thinking that Dean was telling him they were over, Dean told him that he had gotten transferred to San Fran. Cas had cried. They had never talked about it exactly, but Cas and Dean both know that if their relationship was gonna move forward, if they were ever going to get married and maybe have kids, they'd do it in Cali, near family. So they had sold the house, Cas found a position teaching mythology at a local college, and they moved back. 

Anna grabs Dean's head between both of her hands and starts kissing every inch of his forehead. Dean groans for dramatic effect, but doesn't stop her. Michael gets up and claps him on the back. "We appreciate being included in the decision Dean, but this has been a long time coming and we only ever wanted whatever would make the two of you happy. Of course you have our blessing."


End file.
